Control Alt Delete (A BH6 crossover)

Chapter Forty Two: I know what you're going to say.

"He will not think you are crazy," Baymax reprimanded. "Tadashi is both logical and adaptable. He will understand."

Shaking his head, the boy stood once more, pausing to pat the robot's arm on the way towards the stairs. "I appreciate your optimism," he said with a half smile. "I really do, but somehow I don't think he'll understand."

With that, Hiro headed down the stairs to find some breakfast.

.............................................

The garage felt relatively cool in comparison to the rest of the house, even though the air conditioning was pretty good. After all, hot air rose, cold air fell. And the garage was the perfect place for the cooler air, especially since it was also usually in the shade, thanks to neighboring buildings. Not to mention that its location was ideal for being alone without making people worry their little heads off. Hiro knew if he wandered off again, both Tadashi and Aunt Cass would have kittens, or worse.

Aunt Cass hadn't grounded him, so there was at least that, though she'd been understandably upset when Hiro finally showed his face in the café. He'd felt obligated to check in with her and she'd pulled him to the back, out of earshot from the customers, to give him a lecture about wandering off without telling anyone where he was going. It wasn't like he hadn't done it hundreds of times before, but he could see she was worried about him and took it like a man. At least it had been a short lecture. She had to get back to work, after all.

But sitting at the holographic computer, staring into space... well, that wasn't helping. He was still no closer to figuring a way out of this whole mess than he had been upon waking. Hiro spun the holographic image of Baymax he'd called up onto the projection area. It was a basic image of the robot in his normal form, no armor. That way if Tadashi, or anyone else for that matter, were to invade his space, they wouldn't see anything too out of the ordinary. And he rather thought he'd be seeing Tadashi before too long. After all, his older brother had to get his licks in too. He wouldn't put it past Baymax to contact him, telling him his little brother was awake.

The door separating the garage from the rest of the house opened and quiet footsteps sounded from behind Hiro. But he refused to turn around and see who it was. He could tell by the sound that it wasn't Aunt Cass. And it definitely wasn't Baymax, which left Tadashi. "I know what you're going to say," he sighed, bracing himself for the worst.

"Oh you do, do you," Tadashi said in an amused tone. "Somehow, I don't think so." With that, he closed the distance between him and his brother. With a smooth motion, he turned his brother's chair around to face him. "But we do need to talk. I think it only fair you should know that I know you aren't from this timeline."

"What?" Hiro stared in shock. That was the last thing he'd expected to hear coming from his brother's mouth. And yet, there it was, hanging in the air like a banner.

Tadashi pulled over a stool and sat down. "Look, I'm not going to tell you how I know, but I know. So don't deny that it happened. This isn't your original timeline and I'm okay with that."

Hiro's brain had encountered a fatal error and he couldn't help but stare at his brother like an idiot. His mouth hung open and he felt sure the blue screen of death had replaced his eyes. All Tadashi had to do was look to see that.

"I know this comes as a bit of a surprise," Tadashi continued, maintaining a level gaze on his brother's face. "But it came as a surprise to me too."

What was the command for a restart? Hiro knew he should know that one. What was it again? That's right. Control. Alt. Delete. All at the same time. Sometimes the sequence had to be repeated before a restart occurred. He mentally saw himself pushing those three keys over and over again. Why wasn't the darn thing restarting? Oh. Right. Wrong operating system.